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Saturday, June 2, 2012

AZ Democrats no better for Latinos

Have Democrats shown their true color in Arizona campaign?

By Salomon Baldenegro

Estimadas/os: The Arizona Democratic Party is waging a campaign against Democrat Wenona Benally Baldenegro—who is on track to make history by being the first Native American woman (ever!!) to be elected to Congress andthe first Native American, man or woman, from Arizona to be elected to Congress.

This campaign against Wenona is rooted in an essay, “All Politics is Local: The Democratic Party’s Abandonment of the Core,” by Dr. Rudy Acuña, in which Acuña criticizes
the Arizona Democratic Party for not supporting candidates of color or
issues of import to the Mexican American community and mentions Wenona.
The Arizona Democratic Party Executive Director, Luis Heredia, retaliated against Acuña by going after Wenona Benally Baldenegro.

[Acuña’s
essay and a follow-up essay, “An Illusion Becomes a Delusion…Maybe I am
Missing Something,” are Attached. Note that both essays are embedded in
a single document.I urge you to read them to get the full flavor of the dynamics at play here.]

Concomitant
to the campaign against Wenona by Heredia, Bill Roe, Arizona Democratic
Party Chairman, is sponsoring fundraisers for Wenona’s Democratic Party
opponent. So much for the stated—and obviously false—policy of the
Democratic Party that it will not takes sides in contested Primaries.

The behavior by the Arizona Democratic Party begs the question:
Where is the logic in the Arizona Democratic Party’s going all out to
derail the historical candidacy of a highly qualified Native American
woman who has deep ties to the Mexican American community and to support
a candidate who supports racist legislation (SB 1070) and compares
Mexican immigrants to terrorists?

And
especially in a presidential election year, when the Democrats are
bragging that Arizona will vote Democratic in November and are counting
on the Latino and Native American communities, two of its largest and
historically most loyal constituency groups, to be the deciding factors
in that election?

I
daresay that in pursuing its anti-Mexican American-Native American
agenda, the Democratic Party ignores the reality that the Democratic
Party needs us more than we need the Democratic Party!

Full disclosure, but…

Before I go on: Wenona Benally Baldenegro
is my daughter-in-law. So, there is a personal dimension in my posting.
But let’s be clear: I make absolutely no apologies for defending Wenona
against the racist attacks being visited upon her by the Arizona
Democratic Party and its sycophants and minions.

But,
my relationship to Wenona aside, over my 45-plus-year history of
activism in the civil-rights struggle I (and others) have raised the
issues I raise here. In fact, it was these very issues that got many of
us to take on the Democratic Party and to form La Raza Unida Party in
the 1970s.

Republicans attack us openly…Democrats do it behind closed doors

Latinos are under attack in Arizona.
The Republicans leading that war on Latinos wear their hate of Mexicans
and other brown-skinned peoples as a badge. They campaign for office on
it.

The
Democrats, on the other hand, and particularly the Arizona Democratic
Party, pretend to be our friends even as they enable and hold hands with
the Mexican haters and dispense the Party’s resources on the basis of
race and ethnicity—and as is detailed below, brown is the wrong color to
be if one wants access to the Arizona Democratic Party’s resources and
help.

I do not say this lightly. Look at the totality of the evidence detailed herein:

Arizona Democratic Party Chair Enables Russell Pearce and SB 1070

In
2010, when SB 1070—the most blatantly hate-inspired, racist piece of
legislation Mexican Americans have seen in decades—was passed and signed
into law, Don Bivens, Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, set out to appease the Mexican Haters and enabled SB 1070.

Bivens established the Arizona Democratic Party’s policy that Democratic candidates could not/would
not speak out against SB 1070 nor involve themselves in any protests of
SB 1070, etc., so as not to alienate the Mexican Haters.

For
example, in 2010 Bivens and the Arizona Democratic Party hired a
political consultant to coach Democratic candidates. At the workshops he
held for actual and potential candidates, the consultant emphatically
and repeatedly told the candidates not to “…touch SB 1070 with a
ten-foot pole.”

As Stephen Lemons, analyzing the 2010 election results, reported in the Phoenix New Times (November 11, 2010):

“In
fact, Democratic candidates and their flacks were encouraged to avoid
the dreaded term ‘SB 1070’ altogether, as if it invoked the Devil
himself.

“They
were advised by internal pollsters, focus group gurus, and party hacks
to talk ‘tough’ on the border or even…embrace it and ignore the stench
of nativism sticking to them.”

In
practical terms, then, the Arizona Democratic Party, under Bivens’
leadership and direction, enabled Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio, Jan
Brewer, Tom Horne, John Huppenthal, and the rest of that gang of Mexican
Haters.

Not
surprisingly, Gov. Jan Brewer hired Snell and Wilmer, the law firm in
which Bivens is a partner, to defend SB 1070 against the U.S. Department
of Justice’s lawsuit.

HB 2281—the vile first cousin to SB 1070

In
the previous section I mention Tom Horne and John Huppenthal (previous
and current Arizona State Superintendent of Instruction, respectively),
the Mexican Haters behind HB 2281, which deems that Mexican American history is “un-American,” “un-patriotic” and illegal.

HB
2281 led to the dismantling of the highly successful Mexican American
Studies curriculum in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD), the
firing of MAS teachers and Director, and the banning of books by Mexican
American and Native American authors in TUSD.

SB 1070is
the vehicle Horne and Huppenthal used to set the stage for HB 2281 and
to determine that the history of Mexican Americans belongs in the
educational trash bin.

Thus,
SB 1070 and HB 2281 are inextricably linked. To support SB
1070—directly or by appeasing its proponents—is to support HB 2281.

Here’s the present situation…

In Arizona’s
Congressional District 1, two people are running in the Democratic
Primary. One is white—Ann Kirkpatrick—and supports SB 1070 and opposes
the Dream Act (she refused to vote for it the two times it came before
the U.S. House during her one-term tenure).

The other candidate is a highly-qualified Native American woman—Wenona Benally Baldenegro—who
has strong ties to the Mexican American community and who has been
actively involved in fighting SB 1070 and HB 2281 and has stood with the
DREAMers, the young people who, at great risk, have been promoting the
DREAM Act.

The
Democratic Party, as a matter of policy and practice, is not supposed
to get involved—i.e., support one candidate over another—in contested
Primaries…yet

* The Arizona Democratic Party is supporting SB 1070 supporter, Ann Kirkpatrick. The Party’s Executive Director, Luis Heredia (appointed to his position by the aforementioned Don Bivens) is calling people who support Wenona Benally Baldenegro
and asking them to withdraw their support of Wenona. The plan is to
force Wenona out of the race so as to guarantee SB 1070 supporter
Kirkpatrick a victory.

Heredia’s
campaign against Wenona was meant to be a stealth, “whisper” campaign.
But Heredia made the mistake of calling a prominent Tucson Mexican
American activist, a strong Wenona supporter, who is heavily involved in
the fight against HB 2281—as I and Wenona and my entire family are…and the Arizona Democratic Party isn’t—to
“demand” that that person withdraw her support of Wenona. In reaction
to Heredia’s “demand,” a family member of that person sent Heredia a
scathing e-mail.

And that is how I, and others, became aware of Heredia’s and the Democratic Party’s campaign to derail Wenona Benally Baldenegro’s congressional campaign.

* Complementing Heredia’s campaign against Wenona, the Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, Bill Roe, is sponsoring fundraisers at his home for SB 1070 supporter Ann Kirkpatrick—at
the end of this post is the Invitation to a September 14, 2011,
Kirkpatrick fundraiser sent out by Roe. [Kirkpatrick was NOT a
Congresswoman then, nor is she now, despite Roe’s description of her.]

So, the two top Arizona Democratic Party officials, Chairman Bill Roe and Executive Director Luis Heredia are working in tandem to (1) promote Kirkpatrick and (2) derail Wenona Baldenegro’s candidacy.

One
has to be abysmally stupid to believe that Roe and Heredia are acting
“rogue.” Roe and Heredia cannot separate their powerful, official
capacities from their personal personae when they call people to promote
or demonize particular candidates. They are doing what they’re doing on
behalf of the Arizona Democratic Party, protestations that they are
acting as individuals notwithstanding.

And if you are a Democrat in Arizona, the Arizona Democratic Party is doing the above—as well as what is detailed below—in your name and on your behalf!

The contrast between Wenona Benally Baldenegro and Kirkpatrick could not be clearer…

I do not say that Kirkpatrick supports SB 1070 lightly. Look at the record:

*
Kirkpatrick served one term in Congress. As a Congresswoman,
Kirkpatrick stood with the Republicans and fought the U.S. Department of
Justice’s lawsuit against SB 1070, calling it a “sideshow” and insisted
that SB 1070 be allowed to stand. On KPCC Radio (July 28, 2010)
Kirkpatrick noted that she had asked the Obama administration to drop
the lawsuit against SB 1070.

On
CBS News (July 7, 2010) Kirkpatrick again called the DOJ lawsuit
against SB 1070 a “sideshow” and argued the case that instead of
fighting SB 1070, the Obama administration should be “securing the
border.”

Defending SB 1070 at a candidate forum in 2010, Kirkpatrick compared Mexican immigrants to terrorists, saying that: “It is way too easy for terrorists to walk through the desert into the United States.”

There is not a single instance of a terrorist coming into our country via the southern border or of a Mexican immigrant being involved in terrorism—not one!

But
this is the line that Russell Pearce, Joe Arpaio, Paul Babeu, Jan
Brewer, and Ann Kirkpatrick use to scare Arizonans into jumping on the
Mexican-hating bandwagon.

* During Kirkpatrick’s one term in Congress, the DREAM Act came before the House twice. Both times Kirkpatrick made it a point to be absent so as not to vote for the Dream Act.

In contrast to Kirkpatrick,Wenona Benally Baldenegro has been very active in fighting SB 1070 and HB 2281, and she stood with the DREAM students who courageously and at great risk sat in in Senator John McCain’s Tucson office last summer in support of the Dream Act.

Indeed, the contrast between Wenona Benally Baldenegro,
whom the Arizona Democratic Party is demonizing, and Ann Kirkpatrick,
whom the Arizona Democratic Party is supporting, could not be clearer.

The racial aspects of Heredia’s and the Democratic Party’s actions are unmistakable.

Obviously, to the Arizona Democratic Party, anyone,
even a loser who supports racist legislation and compares Mexicans to
terrorists, is preferable to a highly qualified Native American woman!
[The term “loser” is meant literally: because Kirkpatrick turned her
back on her base—Latinos, Native Americans, unions, environmentalists,
etc.—she lost her re-election bid.]

Heredia,
Roe, and the Arizona Democratic Party are determined to assure that
Native Americans will not be represented in Congress—at least, not
during their watch!

Heredia and the Arizona Democratic Party have Mexican Criteria and White Criteria…

The Democratic Party’s campaign against Wenona Benally Baldenegro is not an anomaly.

Consider the following examples:

* Justifying his campaign to derail Wenona’s candidacy, Heredia told Rudy Acuña
in an e-mail last week: “I take great concern when people like Wenona
want to fast track political trust” (“…people like Wenona”? Heredia may
as well have said, “Those people…”)…

BUT…

Witness the situation regarding Rodney Glassman,
who was elected to the Tucson City Council but did not bother to finish
his single term. In Sarah Palin style, Glassman resigned his City
Council seat in mid-term to “fast track” to the U.S. Senate.

Obviously,
the Democratic Party’s “fast track” criterion applies only to Mexican
American and Native American candidates. If you’re white, you can “fast
track” to your heart’s content!

Likewise regarding access to Party resources:

* Just
last week (May, 2012) Heredia and the Arizona Democratic Party denied a
Mexican American Congressional candidate access to Party resources
(e.g., voter registration lists) on the basis that the candidate was
“not Democrat enough,” that is, that he changed his registration from
Republican to Democrat three (3) years ago.

* Yet
Heredia and the Arizona Democratic Party openly and strongly supported
and made available all its resources to U.S. Senate candidate Rodney
Glassman, who had only recently changed his voter registration from
Republican to Democrat when he ran for U.S. Senate.

*And Ann Kirkpatrick, whom Luis Heredia,
Bill Roe, and the Arizona Democratic Party are supporting, is a
Republican who changed her registration to Democrat so as to run for
Congress.

*Heredia
and the Arizona Democratic Party also denied another Mexican American
candidate access to Party resources because, in Heredia’s words (on the
talk radio program “The Lou Show,” May 20, 2012), that candidate has
Republicans supporting her, which, according to Heredia, calls into
question the candidate’s Democratic bona fides.

But
white Democratic candidates routinely tout as a POSITIVE aspect of
their candidacies that they enjoy Republican support and even have
“Republicans For [Name of Candidate]” committees. Heredia and the
Arizona Democratic Party make available to these candidates the full
gamut of Arizona Democratic Party support and resources. [As we speak,
there’s one such campaign going on, in which the Arizona Democratic
Party is fully engaged.]

And,
of course, Rodney Glassman, whom Heredia and the Arizona Democratic
Party supported fully and enthusiastically, received support from his
Republican family and their friends.

Clearly,
Heredia’s and the Arizona Democratic Party’s policy and practice
regarding who can “fast track” and who is “Democrat enough” to be able
to access Democratic Party resources are based on race and ethnicity.
How else can the above actions be explained?

[For
the record: I do not know either of the Mexican American candidates I
reference above—I met one of them for all of about 90 seconds a few
weeks ago—and am not involved in either of their campaigns. My comments
above serve only to illustrate the Arizona Democratic Party’s practice
of applying policies differentially, based on race and ethnicity.]

And it’s not just Wenona and the race-based policies and practices…

I
have focused on the Arizona Democratic Party’s betrayal of Democratic
principles by their support for SB 1070-supporter Kirkpatrick and the
race-based policies and practices described above, but Kirkpatrick’s betrayal of Democratic principles goes beyond her support for SB 1070 and opposition to the Dream Act, viz.:.

During her single term in Congress, Kirpatrick:

* Refused to co-sponsor, and stood with the Republicans regarding the Employee Free Choice Act. The EFCA speaks to the issue of the
rights of workers to unionize. Specifically, it would allow employees
to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation, and
establish harsher penalties for employers who violate employee rights
when workers seek to form a union.

*Supported the union-busting Rio Tinto corporation
that is proposing to set up a non-union mine operation in the Oak Flats
area, northeast of Superior, AZ, and which will entail the destruction
of sacred Apache land. Native American tribes appealed to Kirkpatrick
not to support the destruction of their sacred grounds, but her loyalty
to Rio Tinto prevailed, a betrayal of her commitment to the Apache Tribe
during her campaign.

*Turned her back on her environmentalist support base (The Sierra Club and others) by supporting the Rio Tinto mine, which, in addition to destroying Apache sacred sites, will do immense environmental damage.

*Joined with Republicans to support the tax cuts for the wealthy passed under President Bush, betraying her promise during her campaign to vote to repeal the tax cuts for the wealthy.

Kirkpatrick’s
consistent betrayal of Democratic principles and her habit of voting
more often with Republicans than Democrats prompted the White Mountain Democrats to unanimously pass (on July 8, 2009) a Resolution to:

“Call
on the Sierra Club, Emily’s List, the Hon. Chris Van Hollen, chairman
of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; the Arizona
Democratic Party and the party’s major donors, to withhold further
funding of Ann Kirkpatrick’s campaign until it is determined that she
supports Democratic principles.”

And

“Call
on the Hon. James E. Clyburn, (House) Majority Whip, and Phil Schiliro,
director of legislative affairs for the White House, to explain to Rep.
Kirkpatrick the importance of keeping faith with her constituents.”

And
this is the person whom the Arizona Democratic Party is supporting over
a viable, well-qualified Native American woman who is on the cusp of
making history and who stands on the right side of the issues the
Democratic Party purports to stand for? Incredible!!

But mark my words: as they have been doing since time immemorial, Don Bivens’, Bill Roe’s and Luis Heredia’s
Democratic Party will come around this political season asking for our
financial support, asking us to sacrifice family time to volunteer for
their party and candidates (e.g., Ann Kirkpatrick), etc.

And because the Democratic Party believes it owns us and our support, they take that support for granted.

Al fin y al cabo, the Democratic Party, en cuanto La Raza, es como
el azadón—jala pa’ un lado nomás. In the final analysis, the Democratic
Party, with regard to Latinos, is like the hoe—it works only in one
direction.